Iranian media reveals details of Israeli assassination attempt on president Pezeshkian

Iran's semi-official Fars news agency on Sunday revealed further details about an Israeli attempt to assassinate Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and other senior officials.

The strike, carried out on 16 June — the third day of Israel and Iran's 12-day war — also targeted parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf and the head of Iran's judiciary, among other officials.

Pezeshkkian was attending a Supreme National Security Council meeting in western Tehran when the attack took place. Fars reported that the strike was similar to Israel's assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, with Israeli forces firing six missiles at the building's entrances and exits to block escape routes and cut off airflow.

The strike cut electricity to the floor where the officials were meeting, however Pezeshkian and others were able to escape through a pre-planned emergency route.

The president and other officials suffered minor foot injuries while escaping from the building.

The accuracy of the information used to target the president prompted Iranian authorities to investigate whether an intelligence breach had occurred.

Speaking in a recent interview with US conservative political commentator Tucker Carlson, Pezeshkian said Israel was solely responsible for the assassination attempt.

"It was not the United States that was behind the attempt on my life. It was Israel. I was in a meeting, they tried to bombard the area in which we were holding that meeting," he said according to a translation of his remarks from Persian, in apparent reference to an alleged assassination attempt during the recent war.

Israel's recent war on Iran, launched on 13 June, targeted various areas of the country for 12 days, killing several top ranking military officials, nuclear scientists and hundreds of civilians.

Iran responded to the attacks by launching strikes on Israel, hitting several major cities including Tel Aviv and Haifa.